Chapter 519

Mifune didn't expect that the first time he saw this Kazekage would be in such a form.

The good news is that the Third Raikage and Hanzo of the Salamander still don't seem to have any intention of acting.

And the bad news is that although the two didn't act, there is now one more person confronting each other, and once something happens, the impact will be even greater.

This is not the most fatal thing. The most fatal thing is that this Third Kazekage who arrived suddenly is obviously slightly weaker than the other two.

Under such aura confrontation, the Third Kazekage, who is already a step weaker, has to resist the aura of the two at the same time, and I am afraid he will not be able to support it soon.

And the price of his inability to support is likely to be forced to act.

Aura is something that cannot be seen or touched, yet it is inextricably linked to one's strength.

In the original story, Orochimaru once used his own aura in the Forest of Death during the Chunin Exams to pin Sasuke down, making him unable to even move.

This is the aura suppression brought about by an overwhelming disparity in strength.

Although the Third Kazekage possessed Kage-level strength at a young age and used his sand-manipulation ninjutsu with supernatural skill, there was no doubt that compared to the two titans who dominated the ninja world, he still appeared somewhat immature.

In fact, the Third Kazekage’s intrusion was originally a good opportunity to alleviate the standoff.

But clearly, the Third Kazekage was simply unable to grasp this opportunity.

Ultimately, it came down to strength; the logic is simple, as the saying goes: when the snipe and the clam grapple, the fisherman reaps the benefit.

If the Third Kazekage’s strength had been powerful enough to reach the level of Hanzo of the Salamander and the Third Raikage, then with his intrusion, the two would certainly not have dared to continue their standoff.

This is because both knew that continuing the standoff would only provide an opportunity for a third party to benefit, so they would have tacitly called a truce.

An invisible crisis might have been dissipated into nothingness.

But now, the awkwardness lay in the fact that the suddenly intruding Third Kazekage’s strength was clearly inferior to Hanzo and the Third Raikage, and the worst thing he could have done was to release his own aura, joining the confrontation between the two and causing the three's energies to lock in a stalemate.

It was like two heavyweight champions wrestling on a ring, and an unknown fighter suddenly inserting himself between them. Regardless of whether he intended to challenge them or try to separate them.

It was clear that he lacked the qualifications and the sufficient weight to make the two stop and extinguish their momentum.

This resulted in the two "champions" not taking this third party seriously at all; instead, the most likely outcome was that both would simultaneously attack this third party who didn't know his place.

The final result would only be that the wrestling continued, and the intruding third party would passively become the "factor" that determined the winner of the struggle.

Consequently, Hanzo of the Salamander narrowed his eyes slightly and was the first to increase the efficiency of his chakra circulation. Purple chakra energy continuously overflowed from his body, and his ink-green shoulder-length hair began to move without wind, his terrifying aura instantly climbing another level.

"Tsk!"

In the Third Kazekage’s perception, a chilling, extreme sharpness suddenly surged from the terrifying sea of poison on his left!

This sudden, unexpected escalation of aura caused the Third Kazekage’s pressure to suddenly double.

That wasn't all; on the other side, the Third Raikage seemed to realize something as well, and he also began to increase his aura in unison.

"Crackle, crackle."

A sound of surging electric current appeared in the air, and a large amount of purple lightning suddenly overflowed from the Third Raikage’s body. This was the Lightning Armor that passively manifested when the Third Raikage pushed his chakra to its peak state!

The Third Raikage’s already explosive aura also climbed straight up like it was riding a rocket, and an aura that seemed to want to destroy everything erupted from his body.

"Boom!"

For a moment, the Third Kazekage only felt a roar coming from his right side. He looked over and saw that the purple "Lightning Swamp" on his right had now turned pitch black.

At this moment, the arrogance and high spirits on his face were gone, replaced only by endless gravity and pressure; cold sweat had unknowingly soaked his back.

Between these two massive auras, he felt as helpless and small as a lone boat in a storm.

The pitch-black Iron Sand domain that he had been struggling to maintain began to be compressed and eroded bit by bit, appearing as if it were about to shatter and collapse.

The Third Kazekage gritted his teeth, a trace of unwillingness flashing in his eyes. At this moment, the veins on his forehead were throbbing, and the indignation in his heart reached its peak.

Under such an intense collision of auras, if he still hadn't recognized the identities of the two people applying pressure to him, then he would have been a Kazekage in vain.

The man on the left, whose aura was like a sea of poison and radiated heaven-shaking sharpness, was undoubtedly Hanzo of the Salamander from the Rain Village.

And the iron-tower-like man on the right, who was like a running thunderbolt in the human world, was naturally the Third Raikage of the Cloud Village.

After knowing their identities, the Third Kazekage found it even more unacceptable to be firmly suppressed by the two, seeing that they were even about to crush him directly.

He was the Kazekage! The man who stood at the pinnacle of the Land of Wind! How had he ever suffered such a great humiliation!!!

Even though he was being targeted by both sides, how could he yield?

"No!!!"

He roared in his heart, refusing to admit defeat in the slightest, and forcibly drove the chakra within his body to boost his aura, attempting to withstand the auras of the two Kage-level powerhouses head-on.

Unexpectedly, under the Third Kazekage’s desperate efforts, he actually managed to hold them off for a moment. Although the Iron Sand domain was suppressed into a sorry state, it still tenaciously existed between the "Sea of Poison" and the "Lightning Swamp."

"Boom!"

The Third Raikage and Hanzo of the Salamander narrowed their eyes simultaneously and once again boosted their auras regardless of the cost.

"Not good!"

Pressure like Mount Tai crashed down on the Third Kazekage’s shoulders. Caught off guard, his body shook violently, and he was about to lose his footing.

At this critical moment, two arms slowly supported the Third Kazekage’s shoulders!

It was the Third Kazekage’s capable assistants, the Sand ninja Rasa and the Sand ninja Ye Cang.

These two naturally knew the danger the Third Kazekage was facing, so they provided aid to their Kazekage without hesitation.

It must be said that both Rasa and Ye Cang were outstanding figures of the Sand Village in the future. With their full assistance, it actually had a certain effect.

Within the Iron Sand domain, scorching vacuum energy and dazzling gold-dust fields appeared one after another, helping the Third Kazekage alleviate some of the pressure.

With the help of his two assistants, the Third Kazekage found a way to survive in a desperate situation once again.

But this scene made the "spectator" on the other side anxious.

As the saying goes, the person involved is confused, while the bystander sees clearly.

The Third Kazekage had intruded into the situation himself and didn't understand the state of affairs, but how could Mifune, the host and bystander, not understand the joints of the matter?

Right now, Hanzo of the Salamander and the Third Raikage were suddenly increasing their power, not because they wanted to make things difficult for the Third Kazekage, the third party who had intruded.

It was because they were competing against each other again, using the Third Kazekage as the medium.

That’s right, they were treating the Third Kazekage as the "battlefield" for their confrontation.

Whether it was the Third Raikage or Hanzo of the Salamander, both were heroes who had dominated the ninja world for many years.

With strength at their level, it was difficult to even find a recognized opponent in daily life.

Suddenly seeing a presence with similar strength, it was inevitable that they would be excited to hunt. The problem that followed was that, as the saying goes, one mountain cannot hold two tigers; in literature, there is no first, and in martial arts, there is no second.

Unless there was a presence that both could sincerely admire to suppress them, it was inevitable that such figures would have to determine who was superior when they met.

But one must respect the host; Mifune naturally did not have the face to make the two stop, but this "face" referred to someone else, and this person was, of course, the initiator of this ninja world summit—Mizunuki Ryosuke.

In any case, the Third Raikage and Hanzo of the Salamander could not directly fight to determine the winner out of respect for Mizunuki Ryosuke.

The contest of "aura" had become an effective means for the two to determine who was superior.

— Author's Notes —

...Seeking flowers...